Innovative Film Austria 13/14

Published by Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture 2013 Vienna — Austria Imprint Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture – Film Division Barbara Fränzen – Director Concordiaplatz 2 1014 Vienna/Austria +43 1 531 20–68 80 [email protected] www.bmukk.gv.at Publisher and Concept Carlo Hufnagl – Film Division Editor Brigitte Mayr Translation Christine Wagner Photographs Directors © Joerg Burger © Reinhard Mayr (p. 25, p. 35) Editorial Deadline October 2013 Graphic Design up designers berlin-wien Walter Lendl Print REMAprint Contents INTRODUCTION 9 Breaking Patterns by Federal Minister Claudia Schmied 10 Seeking the Challenge of Innovation by Philip Cheah FACTS + FIGURES 14 Budget 15 Most Frequent Festival Screenings 2010–2013 16 Most Frequent Rentals 1995–2013 17 Most International Awards Received 1995–2013 18 Outstanding Artist Awards 18 Austrian Art Award 19 Thomas Pluch Screenplay Award RECENT SUCCESSES 21 Most Wanted FILMS 45 Fiction 53 Documentary 71 Avant-garde 75 Fiction Short 81 Documentary Short 87 Avant-garde Short FILMS COMING SOON 101 Fiction Coming Soon 109 Documentary Coming Soon 149 Avant-garde Coming Soon 153 Fiction Short Coming Soon 157 Documentary Short Coming Soon 163 Avant-garde Short Coming Soon SCHOLARSHIPS FOR YOUNG TALENTS 175 Start-Up Grants for Young Film Artists CONTACT ADDRESSES 182 Production Companies 184 Sales 185 Directors INDEX 188 Films 190 Directors introduction facts + figures > 8>9 Introduction Breaking Patterns When Michael Haneke’s film Amour was officially nomi- nated for five Academy Awards and Christoph Waltz named among the nominees for Best Supporting Actor, many in the film industry asked: How does Austria do it? How does a small country like that manage to keep coming up with major achievements that attract the international spotlight? What is the secret of Austrian film’s success? Foto: Repolusk Michael Haneke and Christoph Waltz are but two represen- tatives of an Austrian film scene that is on the up and up. First-rate productions and outstanding performances are garnering widespread acclaim from far beyond Austria’s borders. A combination of two factors is key to this success. For one thing, Austria has got effective structures in place to recognize and nurture talent and offer focused support. For another, in the art world the greatest success is achieved by those who develop their own forms of expres sion. Who embark on new ways of entering into dialogue with their audi- ences, fostering emotional and intellectual exchange. It is through them that we get the chance to experience what is new, radical and, at times unthought of. Austria’s film funding structures offer filmmakers opportunities to explore new paths and break existing patterns. The combination of enabling structures and the artists involved has enormously advanced Austrian film. Growing international recognition is its just reward. May this catalogue provide you with many stimulating discoveries! Dr. Claudia Schmied Federal Minister for Education, the Arts and Culture English translation (c) Christine Wagner Seeking the Challenge of Innovation Philip Cheah In Asia, we can only dream of what Austria is doing. State film funding for experimental and innovative films challenging the boundaries of cinema is unthinkable for many countries in Southeast Asia. In Singapore, for example, the mantra is that the arts must exist in the market. Funding for films is therefore predicated on what sells instead of its inherent merits. Austria and Singapore are often com- pared for their size and high standards of living. In the Human Development Index 2013, for instance, Austria and Singapore ranked 18th and 19th, respectively. But that is where the comparison ends. The sense of challenge inherent to the arts, which cinema is part of, is embraced by the Austrians, and while the number of film productions per year is not high, there is no attempt to block the funding of bold experiments. So what do Asians do in reaction to their predicament? Early this year, the Indonesian film, Habibie & Ainun, whacked Iron Man 3 and Fast & Furious 6 to lead the country’s box office with over four million viewers. But what most pundits missed was the fact that the film’s director, Faozan Rizal, is Indonesia’s leading experimental film director. So what happened? Habibie & Ainun, based on the autobiography of Indonesia’s former president, B. J. Habibie, detailing his life and love for his wife, follows all of mainstream cinema’s overused tropes of romance, personal struggle, illness and death, and the eventual sublimation. As Rizal said: “Normally, I do experimental films that don’t go beyond a festival circuit … and because this is a commercial movie, we have to think about the business side and cannot simply regard it as our own piece of art.” Rizal follows a long lineage of filmmakers such as Peter Greenaway, Derek Jarman, Jean Cocteau, Isaac Julien, Sally Potter, David Lynch, Gus Van Sant and Luis Buñuel, who worked in both experimental and narrative cinema. However, the one key difference is that Rizal’s Habibie & Ainun is mainstream cinema at its most extreme. None of the above has done anything so nakedly commercial. 10 >11 Introduction Within Rizal’s experimental filmography – Yasujiro’s Journey (2004), Aries – A Poem for Katia (2005), Fugu – A Sushi Tale (2009) – the contrast against Habibie & Ainun is like night and day. Yasujiro’s Journey features a Japanese man walk- ing in a bleak landscape for about 48 minutes, the subtext being a search for memory as the man’s grandfather crashed his plane in Indonesia during World War II en route to Pearl Harbour. In Aries, a couple wanders in another stark landscape (somewhere in Java) but this time, the desert is contrasted against some pockets of verdant forests. Perhaps intended as a love letter to Rizal’s wife (Katia Engel), the film is a meditation on love. Then, in Fugu, we see an experimental melodrama of a polygamous marriage. When the marriage breaks up, the couples look back with nostalgia and regret. But instead of intense quarrels and shouting matches, the film only features two lines of dialogue. The entire relationship dis- solution is captured through unspoken feelings. While these experimental films were being made, Rizal was a hired hand for commercial cinema. His cinematographic eye was quickly seized upon and he ended up shooting 21 feature films for director Hanung Bramantyo, who is one of the country’s top commercial film directors. Today, Rizal still works in the experimental medium with Katia Engel, his wife. Their latest installation was held in Bali, Indonesia, in March this year: “How Much Land Does a Man Need” explores nature and humanity through film and photography. The other case study for Asia would be today’s film festival celebrity, the experimental director from Thailand, Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Interestingly, while Faozan Rizal went local, Weerasethakul went global. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives won the Cannes’ Golden Palm in 2010, Tropical Malady won a Cannes’ Special Jury Prize in 2004, Blissfully Yours took the Best Film award in the Tokyo Filmex in 2002, while he had his first retrospective at the Singapore International Film Festival in 2001. Of course, Weerasethakul is also a familiar figure in Austria as the Austrian government funded Syndromes and a Century (2006), one of six films for Mozart’s 250th anniversary. Innovation takes on a different character from different cultural perspectives. While innovation seeks to achieve breakthroughs and shatter orthodoxies, that spirit of questioning and openness is framed by one’s living conditions and cultural backgrounds. But life’s reverberations create echoes from history. Austrian cinema has had a major worldwide cinematic impact since early film history through its émigré directors such as Fritz Lang, Joseph von Sternberg, Billy Wilder and Otto Preminger, all of whom established reputations in Hollywood. They were the in visible or spiritual wave that inspired Austria to have its largest film production boom in the 1950s. Just as this boom petered off, the important Viennese Actionism burst into the 1960s with the work of four key figures, Günter Brus, Otto Muehl, Hermann Nitsch and Rudolf Schwarzkogler. They demolished and resisted commodified art and provided experimental film with a nervous burst of new energy. They rejected narrative structure completely, as well as commercial clichés. It was this spirit of questioning and openness, and even of revolt, that permeated Austria’s tendency toward a challenging cinema. Viennese Actionism was a good foil to the experimental film generation, such as Peter Kubelka, Franz Novotny, Valie Export, Otto Muehl, and Peter Weibel, who had begun their work in the late 1950s and the 1960s. Their dedication and constant output confirmed the need for state film funding, which dawned in 1981. Many of today’s avant-garde filmmakers, such as Peter Tscherkassky and Martin Arnold are internationally well known. Even distributors such as sixpack film have built a solid reputation. For example, Peter Tscherkassky’s films have made their way to the Singapore International Film Festival. Austria takes pride in the fact that the country’s experimental filmmaking has impacted on world cinema history. But that support for, and belief in, free think- ing and expression remains a far-off dream for us in Asia. Or as an infamous gonzo journalist once said: “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” 12 >13 Introduction Philip Cheah is a film critic and the editor of BigO, Singapore’s only independent pop culture publication. He is Vice President of NETPAC (Network for the Pro- motion of Asian Cinema). He is program consultant for the Southeast Asian Film Festival, the AsiaPacificFilms.com website, Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival, Shanghai International Film Festival, Hanoi International Film Festival, and the Dubai International Film Festival.

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